The story playing out in my head isn’t the same as the story playing out in yours, and that’s ok. It’s probably also inevitable. And when we’re designing customer experiences, it’s critical to remember and so very easy to forget.

We forget because we’re like the fish in the ocean who doesn’t know that it’s surrounded by water. The story in our head is the one that’s in our head because it’s the one that makes sense to us. Sometimes it makes so much sense to us that we fail to even imagine that somebody else’s story might be different, and yet it almost certainly is.

If the thing you are building, or the book you are writing, or the process you are iterating is just for yourself, then that might be ok, but when you are doing the work for someone; for a customer, for an audience, for a colleague; then the story in their head matters.

“Choose who it’s for and what it’s for. And the more different the person you serve is from you, the more empathy you’ll need to create the change you seek to make.”

Seth Godin, The Practice

We’ll do well to stop and ask ourselves if the things we take for granted are the things the person across from us take for granted. And what about things do they think are obvious that you’ve never even thought of.

Our culture is so diverse that society would be better off if we did this in general, and if you’re doing work for someone (as most of us are) then it’s essential to doing good work. And yet so often it’s as invisible to us as the water to the fish.